SERVICE ROOM
As hotels improve access to their stock, Dinah Hatch discovers how more corporates are booking direct and still achieving the best rate – or are they?
SO, we’re a couple of years on from hearing the screeching sound of the UK economy coming abruptly to a halt. In that time, hotel rates have been soft, eye-catching website room deals have been everywhere and corporates have been enjoying fabulous rates. The hotel booking agencies and travel management companies would like to tell you at this point that they have been instrumental in putting the smiles on travel managers faces via their excellent preferred rates. And although this is the case in a great many scenarios, it’s equally true to say that a good few SMEs are doing the spadework themselves and booking direct with the hotels. Why? Surely everyone knows that an HBA or
a TMC will get you the best deals and more besides – think of all the management inform- ation they produce and pass on, the duty of care issues they cover off and the round-the- clock service they provide. Certainly third party agents can lay on all the extras, but some companies do have their reasons for booking direct. Above and beyond the obvious benefit of sidestepping fees, the first is just how easy hotel groups have made it for PAs and travel buyers to make a booking. Hilton’s senior director of leisure and business
sales, Matthew Roberts, says the hotel group has noticed the use of web-based applications for booking has become more popular with corporate clients. Why? “They allow corporate travellers to arrange all their travel needs from one platform. Companies increasingly employ this technology as it reduces the fees which they might be paying a travel agent,” he says.
Whitbread hotels and restaurants’ director
of sales, John Kerslake, says the company’s Premier Inn brand is totally focused on making the booking process as simple as possible for corporate travel bookers. The brand has been offering to agents its
direct connect product, a direct XML link into its reservation system, for years but has recently adapted it for travel buyers. Kerslake explains: “Now corporates can have their own self- booking tools that link straight into our reservation system.” Accor sales director Jo Stevenson adds,
“On our website, which we are always looking to improve, bookers can search by price, by level of comfort or by our map. And if they are flexible, they can use our newest feature which is to show availability over the month in which they are interested so they can find the best deal for that period of time.”
“One of our key strategies has been to focus
on the website and make it as user friendly and helpful as we possibly can. We want this to be the easiest way to book,” she says. Stevenson continues: “We are also developing an application for smart phones. Right now we have an iPhone app that allows you to book public rates and we are working on developing one that will allow corporates to book using their negotiated rates. We are also working on the same thing with BlackBerry.” Starwood, whose hotel brands include Westin, Sheraton and W Hotels, offers bookers their own microsite with negotiated rates built in. These sites, which are targeted at non-TMCs users who will book directly with the hotels group, have proved more popular in recent years and Starwood is now looking at upgrading them. Says Starwood regional director of sales for North West Europe, Evert Schuele, “These sites will become more sophisticated as we upgrade them in response to the fact that they are proving to be more successful recently. And the number of users is growing as we speak.” Jurys Inn has seen corporates opting for its
direct self-booking tool in droves. Group marketing manager Suzanne Cannon explains, “We have seen quite a lot of growth in midweek online bookings which are usually made by corporates. We have a corporate online programme with negotiated rates.” She adds: “They will also get the best available rate on the day if it is lower than their negotiated rate. We have realised that these days people are very savvy indeed and the corporate customer really wants that best
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